‘Blood and treasure’: US defense chief pushes global military engagement

Facing a trillion dollars in cuts over the next decade and a declining appetite for engagement abroad, Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel attempted to rally the faithful as the US struggles to maintain its massive worldwide military presence.

With around 47 percent of Americans saying the United States
should take a less active role in global conflicts, Hagel,
speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on Tuesday,
sought to assure the public that America’s massive military stamp
was first and foremost done for their benefit following more than
a decade of war and inevitable defense cuts.

“It only forces us to be more engaged later — at a higher
cost in blood and treasure, and often on the terms of
others,” he said. Hagel said staying engaged with the world
was not an act of “charity” but a matter of practical national
interests.

“Although Americans today are increasingly skeptical of
foreign engagement and global responsibilities, it is a mistake
to view these responsibilities as a burden or as charity,”
Hagel told the audience. “Let us remember that the biggest
beneficiaries of American leadership and engagement in the world
are the American people.”

Hagel said investment for America’s global military presence,
which includes 400,000 troops in 100 countries, is necessary to
help build a peaceful, free, and stable world. He further warned
of the perils of isolationism, which would inevitably come back
to haunt the US.

“Turning inward, history teaches us, does not insulate us
from the world’s troubles,” he said.

“It only forces us to be more engaged later — at a higher
cost in blood and treasure, and often on the terms of
others,” he said.

Despite inevitable cutbacks, Hagel argued that the US military
and its allies should not only be strengthened, but deployed with
greater frequency.

“Even as we shrink our military’s size…we must continue
strengthening the capabilities of our allies, forming new
alliances and bolstering old ones, and investing in collective
security arrangements,” Hagel said. “We want our
soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines active around the world,
deploying with greater frequency and agility, with the skills and
expertise needed to build security capacity in each region.”

Turning his eye to Capitol Hill, Hagel hammered Congress for
imposing steep, “irresponsible” automatic budget cuts
while at the same time resisting the military's main proposals
for making them.

"Even as Congress has slashed our overall budget, they have
so far proven unwilling to accept necessary reforms to curb
growth in compensation costs and eliminate the Defense
Department's excess infrastructure and unneeded facilities,"
he said.

Hagel named cuts to military pay, aging weapons systems, the size
of the armed forces, and the closure of military bases popular
with lawmakers and their constituents that should face the
chopping block.

Referring to two aircraft that Congress is loath to mothball,
Hagel argued that the A-10 aircraft, which provides close air
support for combat troops, and the U-2 spy plane were not up to
task in the modern world of sophisticated air defenses.

"Continuing to limp along with 50-year-old platforms, no
matter how good they were or how effective they were, we don't
have that luxury," he said. "We've got to build for the
future. ... Congress has to be a partner with us."

Hagel said that the Defense Department instead needs to focus on
countering high-intensity threats from sophisticated adversaries,
including irregular forces, cyber terrorists and those closing in
on the US technological lead.

He said this would require major investments in next-generations
weapons systems, increased cyber and space capabilities, a
bolstering of unmanned systems, along with precision strike and
intelligence platforms.

Hagel’s stress on capabilities is part and parcel of DOD strategy
which would ensure US forces maintain their edge in arms,
equipment and technological superiority.

“I’m not interested in a fair fight, and I don’t want to be
capable of only fighting the last war,” Hagel said.